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March 24, 2009
The President's Press Conference:
A Guest-Blog by Peggy Noonan*
It is late March, and yet still feels like the deepest part of winter. The earth warms and the days grow longer, but the hearts and souls of Americans continue to feel the chill of our times; the feeling that Shakespeare so beautifully termed the winter of discontent.
As I travel from my townhouse in Virginia to my beach house in Nantucket, I sense an unease plaguing the American people. A malaise, if you will. The president's steely gaze and direct, simple solutions to this country's problems cut through that ill-will and helped reassure the bleating masses, showing them someone was in charge.
Tonight, as Barack Obama spoke to the American people, his words fell upon my ears like the first rays of warm sunlight fall upon my face in the spring; he is both the proverbial lion that sets the month of March in motion and the lamb that ushers it into history. Tonight, we saw a president who is as comfortable with righteous anger as he is with reassuring rhetoric.
The sweet words of Obama dropped out of his mouth like the finest morning dew, effervescent in the winds of hope and change. There was a sparkle to his tone that communicated both confidence and bemusement. From the moment he entered the room, striding with confidence and just a small amount of swagger, his command of the moment was evident.
When asked about whether his budget would increase the deficit, Obama shifted blame masterfully. It was like watching Mozart not only compose a symphony, but play all of the instruments himself. While conducting. There are those who claim that the president is overexposed, but I cannot get enough of that rich velvety voice. It's like being washed with pinot grigio. French pinot, of course. Only a monstrous, embarrassing hick from a backwater state such as Alaska would go with something from Napa, or worse, Australia.
While watching the press conference I was again impressed by his use of presidential anger. His righteous indignation refreshes the American soul and casts light upon our path - the glow of his anger lights our way. After all, when Jesus wanted to clear the temple, He didn't meekly ask for the money lenders to leave. He took charge, wove a whip and started overturning tables. Obama's seeming testiness is simply a slightly toned down anger of the gods. Like the Lion of Judah, the president suffers the taunts of the crowd and wears the inherited problems from the Bush administration like a crown of thorns upon his beautiful brow.
The way he rushed through his answers showed his sense of urgency at the situation facing the American economy. As I listened to Obama I was struck by the simplicity of his words, the cool tenor of his demeanor. If he were a cube of ice, his essence would defy thermodynamics - he would refuse to melt.
When the president spoke of sacrifice, I was with him. The dire economy has forced me to switch from free-range arugula to the horrid greenhouse grown variety. It's been awful. As I watched the president face the press, I felt as though he understood my struggles, and was trying to tell me everything is going to be okay.
When Obama said the dollar is strong, he may not be communicating factual information, but is instead acting as a conduit for essential truth - the American people need to be reassured that the little green pieces of paper in their wallet have actual purchasing power. Left to their own devices, the average American would doubtless use that paper to wipe their dirty posteriors instead of stimulate the economy. Such is the nature of a disjointed and uneducated populace.
In short, President Obama's shoulders may seem meek, but they bear a great weight. Critics of the president are so cynical regarding his seeming inarticulateness as they criticize every verbal tic. The president's use of the 'uh' and 'uhhh' are not the mark of a shallow mind, but a thoughtful one. They are like verbal commas, forcing the reader or in this case, listener, to pause and consider the weight of his words, the rightness of his thoughts.
And after facing the slings and arrows of a press more interested in ensnaring than engaging, President Obama strode confidently into the bowels of the White House. It was clear to me, judging by his visage and demeanor, that he is a man both enslaved and freed by his responsibilities as president. He is wrestling with an angel, and looking forward to a magnificent defeat. He wants to be humbled.
In the end, the president's striving for humility made me root for him in an essential way...in an American way. Anyone who calls him or herself an American should feel the same.
*Okay, not Noonon, but my best attempt to sound Noonan-ish, anyway. Seems I succeeded. Thanks for the comments, all.
Posted by slublog at March 24, 2009 09:19 PM
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Comments
Peggy, you're uncharacteristically understated tonight. Feeling down?
/standing ovation
Posted by: Beth at March 24, 2009 10:05 PM
Truly a classic.
Posted by: christmasghost at March 24, 2009 10:19 PM
This made me puke so it must have some insight into the soul of ms Noonan. What a shame. Greatness to irrelevance in seconds. Such is our life.
Posted by: mytralman at March 24, 2009 10:28 PM
My blue white Irish skin tingles with anticipation of His touch as He makes His way down the greeting line. When, at last, the fiery warmth of His huge hand engulfs mine, I lose myself in the brilliant light and of O-O-O-Orgasm.
--Peggy Noonan
Posted by: Sphynx at March 24, 2009 10:32 PM
I said it before and will say it again: I am the one and singular Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and this peasant is an imposter.
Posted by: Haile Selassie at March 24, 2009 10:33 PM
I think you got it. It's nearly unreadable.
Posted by: Raplh at March 24, 2009 11:06 PM
Well played sir, well played. :)
Posted by: coldmexican at March 24, 2009 11:14 PM
I got halfway through it before I realized it *wasn't* Peggy.
Posted by: Reggie at March 24, 2009 11:18 PM
You know what I love? The opportunity to ban an AOSHQ troll at my own site. Thanks, ergie! I'm almost honored that you would spread your unique and yet pathetic brand of idiocy here. -Slublog
Posted by: ergastularius at March 24, 2009 11:24 PM
Aw, we don't get to see what he had to say? :(
Posted by: Cheesecake at March 24, 2009 11:35 PM
not if I can help it Cheesecake, I'm sure it was filled with plenty of cheerleader doctrine we've come to expect from any fan of the "One" with rhetoric and canned responses.
try TV, MSNBC, Kevin Matthews and Keith Olberman need only a plaid skirt and pompoms to cement their 'objective' views on our recent Commander in Chief.
Posted by: coldmexican at March 25, 2009 12:12 AM
*feeling dinner revisiting my mouth*
Posted by: porknbeasn at March 25, 2009 12:32 AM
You, sir, have a gift. Use it wisely. Or just go nuts with it. Either way is good.
Posted by: cranky-d at March 25, 2009 12:40 AM
Very, very Stephen King like.
Unfortunately it has a ring of truth to it.
Did you have to shower after this writing?
Posted by: solitary knight at March 25, 2009 01:03 AM
Brilliant.
Read twice, to install it deeply in my subconscious. In the years to come, as I hunt for sustenance through the darkened shattered city, I'll pause for a grim smile of recollection.
Posted by: Byron in Wahroonga at March 25, 2009 04:32 AM
One of the following just occurred:A,B,C.
A:She's been cloned.
B:You're her identical twin sister.
C:Obama's teleprompter wrote the piece for you.
Posted by: Don L at March 25, 2009 04:37 AM
The french have a word for it...
Posted by: Gene Nicolet at March 25, 2009 06:54 AM
That was brilliant, Slu!
Posted by: Tushar at March 25, 2009 07:47 AM
Pitch perfect. I salute you.
Posted by: Velociman at March 25, 2009 07:50 AM
I marvel at the way you weave the silver and golden threads of assonance and alliteration into the fabric of your essay. If I could make but one suggestion to tone the timbre of your Tarantella, it would be to assuage your assonance less and alleviate your alliteration a little more. But then, I am an assonance man, myself.
Posted by: bergerbilder at March 25, 2009 08:49 AM
I know The One can do anything, but how does he stride "confidentially?"?
Posted by: Levans at March 25, 2009 08:51 AM
I smell Iowahawk all over this piece. Great job though!
Posted by: Corona at March 25, 2009 08:52 AM
Do Frum and Parker now. You can claim the title of the Rich Little of political bloggers.
Posted by: polynikes at March 25, 2009 09:00 AM
She failed to mention the multiple orgasms she experienced while watching The Won.
Posted by: physics geek at March 25, 2009 09:27 AM
Slublog channels Iowahawk!
Well done.
Posted by: thirteen28 at March 25, 2009 10:24 AM
Iowahawk will read this, and wish he wrote it. No higher praise possible.
Posted by: jh at March 25, 2009 11:42 AM
Well done, sir. Iowahawkesque, indeed.
Posted by: kelly at March 25, 2009 12:39 PM
That reminded me of riding a unicorn over a rainbow.
Posted by: 5th Level Fighter at March 25, 2009 01:31 PM
"When Obama said the dollar is strong, he may not be communicating factual information, but is instead acting as a conduit for essential truth - the American people need to be reassured that the little green pieces of paper in their wallet have actual purchasing power. Left to their own devices, the average American would doubtless use that paper to wipe their dirty posteriors instead of stimulate the economy. Such is the nature of a disjointed and uneducated populace."
Quite the opposite -- it's the very lack of economic sophistication that keeps the "disjointed and uneducated populace" believing that these little green pieces of paper are good for anything BUT rectal ablution. But I applaud your naked elitism here, as bare and undulant as any quivering blue-white skinned Irish lass.
Posted by: Schumpeterian Trumpeter at March 25, 2009 02:23 PM
Nailed it. Thank you.
Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at March 25, 2009 02:27 PM
I can only forward this link and allow HIS most favorable people of this small town to read it...and perhaps choke on it.
Kudos !
Posted by: Frank J Witt at March 26, 2009 07:57 AM